Howdy! I sure heard a lot of that this weekend in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The fans in Oklahoma were die hard dirt bike people! They were there to get their fill of Arenacross, and this weekends races provided them just that, but the track was more than I expected.

We were at the Lazy-E Arena about 45 minutes from Oklahoma City. It was a beautiful drive. If you don’t know already, I grew up riding horses. I have been a farm girl my entire life. The Lazy-E Arena is on a farm, but not just any farm. The farm land stretched as far as you could see, with white fencing all around it. It was unbelievable. I was in heaven, there were horses all over the place, and I felt at home!

The Lazy-E arena is used for your typical horse stuff. Rodeo, Dressage, Bull-riding all the fun stuff, but not this weekend it was sculpted into a race track, as our announcer Tim Cotter says, “iron horses”. The track was enormous, lap times averaged 45 to 50 seconds. It was close to a Supercross track, and I was amazed. The races were sure to be exciting!

Friday night the crowd was rowdy, and that was when I was informed “to wait for tomorrow, Saturday they get out of control”. Tim Cotter and I had our own Toyota Trucks to bring us out onto the track, mine was a limited black Tundra. My truck was better than Tim’s although they were both really nice!

The riders were riding strong, most of the problems were coming from the whoops, they were enormous! All the riders were making mistakes in the whoops, making it exciting but probably frustrating for them! During the 125 main, veteran Travis Hodges “HodgeMoto” was on fire, he and Shawn Clark were battling back and forth tire to tire. HodgeMoto got out in front and started to take off with the lead, it was tough break but “HodgeMoto” made his mistake in the whoops and stalled his bike! Bummer… here came Shawn Clark to take the lead and hold it to the end!

So on the top of the box we had Shawn Clark (9), Travis Hodges (501), and Dennis Jonon (236). Watching the Lites class was definitely fun and it set the mood for the “big bike” Arenacross class. I was excited to see what was going to happen during the Main with the big bikes, just because the track was so big! As the riders all raced towards turn one, they were in a clump, kinda like a herd of cattle. They raced around intensely, the whoops were tricky, and that is where most the passes happened.

It was a race until the end… especially between our top two riders, Chad Johnson and Brock Sellards. Brock would lead and Chad would pass, take over for a while, until Brock would come up underneath him and pass him back. They battled it out for a while, then Brock made a small mistake in the whoops, which gave Chad just enough time to get his lead, and he ran away with it. Jeff Northrop and Zach Ames were not too far behind. You could tell the riders were getting tired, not used to having so much time on the track especially by lap 15 or so. Chad kept his lead and landed back on top of the box receiving 1 st place, Brock was able to hold onto 2 nd and Jeff Northrop got some points at 3 rd. It was a great night!

I started my Saturday off with a trip to Oklahoma City, with my announcer buddy Tim Cotter, to check out the Oklahoma City bombing site. It was a very touching memorial. They did a wonderful job putting it together! I was touched, and I learned a lot while I was there reading about it. I am really glad I went by and saw the site, it was an important day in history and definitely worth the visit if you are ever there.

The sun was shinning so we walked around for a while. As we headed back to the Lazy-E Arena to begin our day at the track, we enjoyed all the incredible scenery. The people began to show up around 5:45 pm for the doors to open at 6:00 pm. I had signed a ton of autographs and before I knew it, it was 7 pm, time for opening ceremonies and the people were still coming in, and there was hardly an empty seat in the place. It was going to be a great night!

I never really get to watch the qualifiers so when it comes time for the mains I am excited to be there on the track right there with the riders seeing their every move. Shawn Clark started the Lites race with the holeshot, and he didn’t hesitate to take off with it. Travis Hodges worked hard the entire race to catch up to him, but it was not happening. The results were exactly the same as Friday night, Shawn led the entire race coming in 1 st (again), with Travis Hodges in 2 nd, and Dennis Jonon in 3 rd.

The whoops got toned down slightly, I thought that it was going to make the gaps between riders a lot smaller, because that was where the majority of the problems were last night.

As the gate dropped out in front was Zach Ames, he had a great start, along with Kevin Johnson. Kevin got a good start so I knew he was going to have a good race. He is such a talented rider so if he gets a start he is sure to be up front or up close to the front. Kevin got out front and started to take off, Brock Sellards came up quickly and gave Kevin a good battle. The entire stadium was on there feet, including myself. The race was on!

They battled back and forth for a while, but Kevin led the race for the first 15 laps. I thought he had it, and next thing I knew he made a slight mistake, and Brock got far enough ahead to take off with it. Kevin would close the gap, but it wasn’t enough. Chad Johnson was not too far behind; Jeff Northrop was up with them also. Roy Horton fell in the last three whoops, he laid there for a second, Jeff came up a couple of laps later and took a hard fall in the whoops, it made my stomach turn, I thought he was hurt for sure. He got up and finished the race. Kevin Johnson was tired, you could tell, so he never had enough power to catch Brock. Brock received the win, Kevin got 2 nd and Chad Johnson got 3 rd. It was a great race!

This weekend, during the US Air force / Team Faith, freestyle exhibition, we had a new guy in town. Rob and Willie are still out hurt. But this new kid was awesome. He surprised the crowd with a back flip. It probably was the first ever back flip done in the Lazy-E Arena. He was awesome!

Well race fans, I am on my way home, hopefully I will get to watch some football and take a nap. I loved Oklahoma it was an awesome track, and the races were so unpredictable, making our series so interesting. I can’t wait till next weekend, my Mommy and two of my sisters and my nephews are coming to the race I am excited. So have a wonderful week, be safe, ride strong and don’t forget to smile!

XOX
Ashley
Miss Arenacross